Polishing Steel Dies

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Last Post 27 January 2016

Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

Some years back, I stopped using carbide handgun sizing dies as they sized cases more than I wanted. I went back to the older steel dies and have a nice supply. Some folks don't like them because they leave marks on the cases and not the burnished look of carbide dies.

I read somewhere on the net how a fellow polished the inside of his dies when they started to leave marks so I though I would give it a try.

I took my pet early 60's RCBS 38 Special die, chucked it up in the lathe, dropped the speed to the slowest without engaging the back gears. I took a bore mop coated it with Mother's Mag Polish and put it in the tailstock chuck and fed it into the spinning die. In an out a few times and that was it. I then cleaned the die with alchohol and gave it a try in my press. Sure enough, no marks on the case and no dimensional changes either.

Any metal polish could be used, Flitz,Semi-Chrome or whatever and a dril press on a hand drill.

Just passing this along for what it is worth. Old dies can be rehabed this way.

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

Addendum: While I was in die polishing mode, I did the deed on a 38 Special Shell Resizer. This is the hand sizing die that is no longer made. The amount of force required to to full length resize a case with the cheap Harbor Freight arbor press was reduced to a very noticable degree. It made easy work of sizing cases this way.

I also did the same to the neck sizing die (38 Special) for the Lyman 310 tong tool. Same result, no scratches and much smoother sizing with less effort.

Encourage, I chuck up my Lyman 30-30 Shell Resizer and had at it. The result were quite remarkable. What had hereto for been a gut buster job became quite easy.

I have been wraping the bore mop with paper shop towels for a tight fit and slathering the paper with Mother's Mag Polish.

Next up is the 30-06 Lyman Shell Resizer. This die has herefore has been unusable with the HF arbor press. The press didn't have enough juice to do the job.

Stay tuned..

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CBA Member

Ed Harris posted this 15 February 2013

That's pretty much the way I do it. You can do a good job with a hand operated Yankee drill and Brobst JB paste on a mop, or if you don't have that, toothpaste will work.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

Yep, the undoable is now doable. Here is a pic of the sized case and one from the same batch that is unsized. Once fired Lack City 67.

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

Pic didn't load, try and try again...

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

I guess the question remains, is it worth the time and effort to polish risizing dies? Well, that depends on what you think your time is worth. It really doesn't take much time and yield several benefits;

It eliminates scrach marks on the cases from the dies.
It significantly reduces the amount of force needed to push the case in and out of the die. You will never notice the reduction of force with any good reloading press. But you will with hand tools or a cheap arbor press.

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 15 February 2013

One more note about El Cheapo HF press. The end of the ram is not square. This shows up when you use it to push rimless cases (like the 30-06) into a die, flush with the end of the die. The end of the ram contacts one side of the die a hair before the case is flush. It take a trip to the bench vise for one small tweak to flush the case and establish final headspace.

The is not a problem with rimed cases as the ram does not contact the end of the die.

I am scratching my head about how to square the end of the ram without making things worse. I am not a machinest and have limited tools available to me. I do have a milling attatchment for the little Logan lathe and that and a little hand finishing might do the trick. I need to sleep on this.

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Bisley posted this 01 September 2013

Growing up in suburban Alaska, I had a bunch of leftovers from my (now late) father's junk and gun shop he ran during the 1950s. In the mid '80s, and challenged with a large wood box of .38 Special casings, I started with steel dies which were leaving vertical scratches. Rather than ignore them, Dad showed me to simply take a pair of long-handled tweezers, and some 600-grit sandpaper wound thick enough to seal the die, and simply turn the die in your hand a dozen twists or so. Later, I graduated to a strip of crocus cloth about 1 1/2 inches wide, and simply held the die down on one side as I spun. I would resize about 300 cases, and hand polish the die, cleaning it with Hoppes and wiping it dry when I finished. Seems to me these were C&H or Pacific steel dies. Dad didn't go modern with carbide until I was old enough to move out, although I have the carbide die set now. Those steel dies taught me a great deal and I miss them for a lot of reasons...

Bisley

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CBA Member

larry fisher posted this 01 September 2013

Charger simply rotate sizing die 180 degrees and finish sizing.Beagle

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Standard Member

Chargar posted this 01 September 2013

larry fisher wrote: Charger simply rotate sizing die 180 degrees and finish sizing.Beagle

Tried that, but the bottom of the ram seems to have multiple high spots. At any rate, rotating the die doesn't seem to help.

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CBA Member

delmarskid1 posted this 02 September 2013

First I would find the high spot. Maybe sliding a piece of paper around under the ram? Then I might try to put tape on one side of a file and lay the tape side on the arbor base with the file teeth up. Then I would slide this arrangement back and forth under the high spot on the stomper till I went nuts or got 'er done.

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Standard Member

EDG posted this 21 June 2014

I have polished dozens of scratched, rusted and dies with rough finish tool marks. I buy a lot of used dies and in the process have found out many people do not take care of their dies. They leave dirt and grit on their brass which scratches the sizers. They also let the dies rust. Some manufacturers ream dies and leave chatter marks or do not polish them very well at the factory. Dies are easy to polish and this little process comes from my early years working in a machine shop. If you have a really rough die you might start with 240 or 320 grit wet or dry silicon carbide paper. For a die that just needs a little touch up start with 400 grit.

Chuck in your lathe, turn at at least 600 RPM. Wrap the paper round a split 1/4” wood dowel. Apply a little WD-40 or light gun oil and make 3 or 4 passes with moderate pressure. That is about all it takes. Heavy tool marks or rust might take 4 or 5 minutes. Most dies are so small that you will be in no danger of making them oversize. A good polish job will require less force to resize and the finish on the cases will look better. If you want even better finishes you can use 600 to 1200 grit papers.

Keep your cases clean and you will never have to polish a die a second time.

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Standard Member

wizzbang posted this 27 January 2016

I have a question concerning part of the thread above. I have used carbide die's and of course regular steel dies, and I do not mind a little extra step in the process. I noticed that the starter thread mentioned the oversizing of carbide dies, are steel better for the pistol cases if one is looking at longevity? I ask because I am in the market for some 38/357 dies, and this is a consideration. Additionally, does anyone know about the new titanium nitride coated dies?

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CBA Member

RicinYakima posted this 27 January 2016

In my opinion, for what that is worth, yes carbide dies oversize brass and too far down the cases. However, the tolerances are so loose, that you never know what you are going to get. In 38 special I use a C&H 444 press setup with carbide sizer, but I only size down to the base of the bullet. Since I only have S&W and Colt revolvers, the cases all interchange between cylinders. But I use polished steel 1960's Pacific die for 357 and I have to resize full length for revolvers and rifles. If your brass is cleaned and wiped and lubed, you only need to polish the dies every 2K cases or so. HTH, Ric